Apache Junction, AZ –Heading into the final phase of the campaign,
upstart progressive Democratic Congressional candidate Mikel Weisser has called
on Apache Junction activist, Barbara Njos, to coordinate his national phone
bank program. Weisser, the Democratic populist
Kingman area activist recently earned an endorsement from the Progressive
Democrats of America (commonly referred to as PDA) for his challenge in
Arizona’s 4th Congressional seat.

It was an honor uncommon for a
tiny grassroots campaign such as Weisser’s and it came with a huge challenge
when it came to creating an outreach program for a district of 700,000 people
spread over seven counties and forty thousand square miles. “It’s Yuma to Utah,
Parker to Payson, the central highlands and all the area around Phoenix where
the people aren’t,” Weisser laughs. With
major cities in the district, such as Bullhead City and Florence being as much
as 300 miles apart, the logistics of effectively reaching all the corners of
the district required a phone calling operations of epic scale.

Enter PDA’s phone-banking dynamo, Apache Junction’s own
Barbara Njos (pronounced “Naws”). A
longtime local activist and leader in the national organization of PDA, Barbara
has logged in thousands of calls over the years. Working not only for PDA and
the state party, but Njos also is a leader in the Apache Junction’s contingent
of the Pinal County Democratic Party and has made phone calls for every one of
those groups. “Phone banking is a key part of any political campaign,” Njos explained,
“It gets the message out directly to voters. It connects you to people.”

A
member of the Arizona Democratic Party’s executive board, Njos has been in the
leadership of many of the state’s party’s progressive groups over the past two
decades including Citizens for a Better Arizona, the End the War Coalition,
Progressive Democrats of America, United for Change, Habitat for Humanity, and
the international women’s peace & economic justice activist group Code
Pink. “Mikel and I first met in 2007 in DC at a Code Pink protest against the
Iraq War. Since that first meeting we have become good friends. We share values
that support the middle class and want life liberty and the pursuit of happiness
to actually be something our country aspires to once more.”

Weisser was thrilled to get the chance to develop his
relationship with Njos. “Barb is a mentor and a hero to me and a generation of
AZ activists. PDA is the national leader of the progressive movement and I have
been a proud member,willing to come the 400 mile round trip to join their
events; but I never expected to rise to a position of leadership, much less
being an endorsed candidate.” When Weisser originally started developing his
2014 campaign, Njos provided a base in the Apache Junction end of the district.
With a budget that was a fraction of a typical congressional campaign, the PDA
endorsement came as a blessing and a challenge. “PDA was willing to use their
resources to help us create massive phone bank, as big as we wanted; but it was
up to us to run it. Thank god for Barbara.”

Juggling her various phone commitments along w her other
activist work, has been rewarding for Barb. “Every time I connect to someone
who may not have been in agreement with me but we can reach one, it’s a
victory. I learn a lot.” With volunteers scattered from Oregon to Florida, many
who will never meet each other, the logistics are sometimes hard to work out,
but Njos appreciates the challenge. “Leading the phone banking for Mikel has
allowed me to take his message to more people and give them the opportunity to
understand his work can help all Arizonans.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­"

This round of phone banking may end the night of the
election, but the Mikel Weisser campaign has already committed to a run for the
2016 cycle. “I may not be the guy who dethrones Gosar, but I am not stopping
till he is out of office.” Njos has also committed to the challenge for the
foreseeable future. “We need to return our country to the vision that the
founding fathers had.”

Monday, October 27, 2014

I never guessed that when I stumbled into politics I would ever get to speak w a figure like Howie Klein. A creator of our culture as a music promoter, political columnist/activist and now the founder of Blue America, Klein is proof positive that the artist can and continues to change the world.

After being encouraged to approach him from my state party executive director, DJ Quinlan, Klein and I talked about my race and their program and though it was too late for them to add me to their slate for the 2014 cycle, we are discussing the 2016 cycle and he asked me to write a guest blog, a quick little pitch to their readership. Some of this was developed based on Rob Kall's transcript of my recent Op-Ed News interview. I don't know if he'll end up running it, but I know I am happy w what I've said.

Howdy, my name is Mikel Weisser. I am the Democratic
candidate for US House in AZ’s 4th Congressional District, the rugged-est,
reddest, most redneck part of America’s reddest state, Arizona. I’m a native
Texan, a former teen runaway, former ditch-digger, homeless vet, and junior
high social studies teacher. I grew up in a small town near the border of
Mexico. About 15 yrs ago I moved to AZ from Illinois por que yo hablo poquito espanol. I share my humble beginnings because I believe the
beauty of the American Dream is that a man can remake himself and make a better
world if he tries.

I also believe for many, many people, this pitch is coming so
late in the cycle, you think it’s a joke. “Hey,
look at me way out in AZ demanding your attention, gimme all your money and
your time!” Sure. I understand. But here in this last minute, I am doing exactly that, asking you to
think about Arizona & my campaign. Let me tell you why.

You should know, from the first, I am a tremendously
outmatched underdog. The GOP literally has double the number of registered
voters, a 30 yr dynasty, and lots of Bubbas who like being bullies out here …
and that none of that scares me a bit. My opponent Paul Gosar (AZ-04) is a Tea
Party incumbent talking head willing to wreck the whole country to score
political points.

He’s the kind of guy who would travel to Cliven Bundy’s ranch
to do a photo op – to hug it out with him, to show support for the Bundy
agenda, conservative values agenda--a mouthpiece, an echo chamber for every tea
party-right wing-fundamentalist talking point that’s come through the news
stream. He voted against the ACA 54 times; voted against protection of women
against domestic violence; voted against minimum wage; voted to shut down the
government twice; voted to impeach Holder/censure Holder; calls for the
impeachment of Obama, on and on and on and on ad naseum. Half the words in half
of his speeches are “Benghazi,” the other half are “IRS.” He’s that kind of
guy.

I’m the kind of guy who left my careers as a teacher &
slam poet/arts organizer to devote my full time efforts to changing America using
the political process. I’m the kind of guy who is leading AZ’s cannabis reform
movement by building the greenest possible grassroots coalition, who plays my
own guitar on the protest songs at our rallies, who hand-paints his own signs
and does his own lit-drop, who travels the state to promote issues like LGBT
rights, the performing arts, immigration and education in a rickety old van
with more than 200,000 miles on it, who is not afraid to sleep on the floor
sometimes if that’s what it takes … and who has developed the faith of a
network of dozens of devoted, inspired and inspiring volunteers around the
state who feed me, house me, make zillions of phone calls on my behalf and are
dedicated to making my campaign about making a difference, not politics as
usual.

I know, it sounds great, but why care about my song and dance w 434 other federal races to watch? Well, I
could go on about how unusual, how bold, how intriguing and how much fun our
approach is. I could tell you Wild Bunch Media’s Jennifer Smith has called my
race “the most amazing human interest story in congressional politics,” but if
you just click the links below, you can decide on that for yourself.

I could tell you about the endorsements I’ve gained from PDA’s
national office, DFA’s AZ chapter, Stonewall Democrats of AZ, Congressman Raul
Grijalva, Brave New Films, and over a dozen other AZ legislators and leaders.
And now, Howie Klein has given me this chance as well. Here’s the secret truth
of why my race is important: I’m not just trying to win an election, I’m trying to
change the world and it so happens in AZ in this election cycle, my loud
mouthed idealist campaign could be the final push it takes to drive several of
our statewide candidates over the top. If I and the legislative candidates that
I’m working with and the state party efforts come together the way we want, we
can affect the outcome of some really critical state elections.

Right now, 2014
cycle, Arizonans are electing their governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General,
Treasurer, the education guy, the corporation commission people. In 2012 we
didn’t win any statewide races; but after two years of working all those races
are competitive. In my primary two months ago, there was a shift of 23,000
votes away from the GOP towards me and there was only 85,000 votes cast. He
still has the lead, but it’s closer and it’s close enough where it can start to
matter for our statewide candidates – Fred DuVal is running for Governor; and Felecia
Rotellini running for Attorney General, Terry Goddard running for Secretary of
State. These races are close enough so a strong rural turnout, along with what
we already have going in the urban districts, can change the outcome of the
statewide race.

In 2006, we
won the governorship in a state that’s predominantly re­publican. Janet
Napolitano was expected to be defeated; but the rural parties turned it around.
Whether or not it’s about Mikel Weisser becoming congressman, it’s definitely
about getting some progressive values in a state that’s famous for being racist
and redneck and anti-progressives.

So there it
is--a numbers game, a quirky chance to play a percentage and maybe upset the
GOP’s whole elephant parade. If you choose to get involved, there are a lot of
ways to get involved: 1st and foremost, go to my website, browse
around the You Tube channel and look before you act. I may be too wild for you,
seriously. If not: share, share, share, click, like, retweet—especially w your
maven friends, especially w folks in media. We are earning our media. 2) If you’ve
ever volunteered on a PDA virtual phone bank or want the experience and can invest
two hours, we’d love to have you. 3) If you want to give me money, use Act
Blue, hundreds already have and we could really use it. In fact we need money
as much, if not more, than any of those folks who’ll blitz your inbox every day
and beg and plead. I didn’t come here to beg and plead, only to change the
world.

About Me

We are occupying the left coast of Arizona, disorganizing people from Yuma to Utah and the Colorado River to Cottonwood! This District was built for an Extremist Republican like the three talking heads that are running, Gould, Gosar, and Babeu. Please help us change the discussion in AZ CD 4. We need your support! Mikel Weisser is a social studies teacher, poet, and activist with progressive vision and energy.